Hello! As a valued friend of Care Resource, you can make a difference! By joining Find A Cure Panel for people with HIV / AIDS, you will be empowered to share your opinions in vital research. Anyone who is HIV+ may participate in this survey, so pass this email onto anyone you may think is eligible. What's more, FACP will make a minimum donation of $25 to Care Resource for each survey completed. Registering is fast, free, and your privacy is completely protected.

KEY WEST, Florida Keys -- Steve Smith, the gay-market destination sales manager for the Monroe County Tourist Development Council, the tourism promotion agency for the Florida Keys & Key West, has been re-elected to the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association's board of directors for 2009-2011.

Involved in gay destination marketing for more than 16 years, Smith joined the Keys tourism council in 1997 as the nation's first gay-market destination sales manager.

Smith previously served for six years on the board of directors of IGLTA, a travel trade association committed to growing its members' gay and lesbian tourism business. He also has been its president and treasurer.

"My desire is to continue my efforts toward strengthening the association, growing its global membership and enhancing consumer awareness of the IGLTA and benefits of using an IGLTA travel professional," said Smith.

June 28, 2009 will mark the 40th anniversary of the historic Stonewall Riots that occurred in Greenwich Village, New York. Many cite the riots as the birth of the Gay Rights Movement in the United States. From June 1969 until June 1970, gays and lesbians in New York City radicalized in an unprecedented way, founding several activist groups that created a new vision for Gay Liberation. The exhibition 1969: The Year of Gay Liberation charts the emergence and evolution of this new vision from the Stonewall Riots to the first LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) Pride march on Christopher Street in June 1970. All of the materials for this exhibition were drawn from the LGBT collection, in the Manuscripts and Archives Division of The New York Public Library. 1969: The Year of Gay Liberation will be on display at The New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street from June 1, 2009 to June 30, 2009. Additionally, three related public events will be presented in June. Admission to the exhibition and programs is free.

The exhibition features original photographs, pamphlets, police reports, newspapers, and letters. Included are materials relating to activist groups formed between 1969-1970 such as Gay Liberation Front, the Radicalesbians, Gay Activists Alliance, and Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries. Other materials that can be found in the exhibition include a letter to Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller by Jim Owles, President of the Gay Activists Alliance, asking to meet to discuss gay rights. Many of the photographs featured were taken by activist Diana Davies who captures events such as a march by the Gay Liberation Front in Times Square and protests by gay NYU students for equal rights. The exhibition shows that while each activist group fought for gay rights differently, with some more radical than others, they all shared the unified goal of equal treatment in society.

“This exhibition charts a historic and pivotal moment in history for gays and lesbians that goes beyond New York City,” says Jason Baumann, exhibition curator and Coordinator of Collection Assessment and LGBT Collections at The New York Public Library. “The year 1969 marks the first time homosexuals united, demanded, and were willing to fight for full inclusion within American society. As a result of the actions taken during this time gays and lesbians marked a paradigmatic shift not only in the ways that they saw themselves but also in how the world would see them.”

The LGBT collections at The New York Public Library are among the largest and most thorough in the country. The collections include the archives of pioneering LGBT activists, such as Morty Manford, and Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen; the papers of scholars, such as Martin B. Duberman, Jonathan Ned Katz, and Karla Jay; organizational archives of pivotal civil rights groups, such as the Mattachine Society of New York and Gay Activists Alliance; and the papers of LGBT writers, such as W.H. Auden, Virginia Woolf, and Joseph Beam. The Library’s collections also include major archives in the history of the AIDS crisis, extensive holdings in the history of LGBT theater, and the Black Gay and Lesbian Archive.

1969: The Year of Gay Liberation will be on view from June 1, 2009 through June 30, 2009 in the Stokes Gallery (third floor) at The New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, located at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan. An accompanying online version of the exhibition will be launching in June. There will also be a traveling panel exhibition throughout the branches. Exhibition hours are Monday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Admission is free. For more information, call 917-ASK-NYPL or, for more information about the Library's LGBT collections and resources,visit lgbt.nypl.org

Initial funding for The New York Public Library’s LGBT initiative was provided by Time Warner.

Free Public Events Related to the exhibition, at The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building: Saturday, June 13, 2009, 2:00 p.m., South Court Classrooms LGBT Studies Research ClassA workshop on how to do research on LGBT history using the NYPL’s resources. Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 6:00 p.m., Berger Forum David Carter Lecture on the Stonewall RiotsHistorian David Carter, author of Stonewall, will discuss myths and facts pertaining to the incident. Wednesday, June 24, 2009, 6:00 p.m., South Court Auditorium Gay Liberation Front Reunion Panel Surviving members of Gay Liberation Front will reunite to reminisce on their experiences in the movement and its historical purposes.

About The New York Public LibraryThe New York Public Library was created in 1895 with the consolidation of the private libraries of John Jacob Astor and James Lenox with the Samuel Jones Tilden Trust. The Library provides free and open access to its physical and electronic collections and information, as well as to its services. It comprises four research centers - the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building; The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; and the Science, Industry and Business Library - and 87 Branch Libraries in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island. Research and circulating collections combined total more than 50 million items. In addition, each year the Library presents thousands of exhibitions and public programs, which include classes in technology, literacy, and English as a second language. The New York Public Library serves over 16 million patrons who come through its doors annually and another 25 million users internationally, who access collections and services through its website, www.nypl.org.

"AMERICAN Idol" runner-up Adam Lambert has steadfastly refused to talk about his sexuality despite photos of him on his Web site tongue-kissing men and dressed in full drag -- but not for much longer. A well-placed magazine source tells Page Six that Lambert will be coming out officially on the next cover of Rolling Stone.

A Levi's customer looks at a display featuring white clothing and white knots at a Levi's store May 28, 2009 in San Francisco, California. Levi Strauss, a long-time supporter of gay rights, is dressing up their windows and clothing with white knots at 20 of their stores across the country as a symbol of support for marriage equality. (Photos by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Sergio Garcia has been crowned prom queen at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles. "You don't have to be a certain gender to accomplish things," said Garcia, crowned on May 23. Although he admitted to considering going for prom king initially, he said ultimately he identified more with being a queen. Plus, he added, it was more of a challenge to go after the title of prom queen. The openly gay teen's campaign began as a stunt but ended up spurring discussion on the campus about gender roles and teen popularity. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Times, Liz O. Baylen)

(San Pedro Sula) - Honduras should act to end an epidemic of violence against transgender people by investigating, prosecuting, and convicting those responsible, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The organization also called on Honduran authorities to repeal legal provisions on "public morality" and "public scandal" that give police excessive power and enable abuse.

The 45-page report, "‘Not Worth a Penny': Human Rights Abuses against Transgender People in Honduras," details abuses based on gender identity and expression, including rape, beatings, extortion, and arbitrary detentions by law enforcement officials. It also documents police inaction and recurrent failure to investigate violence against transgender people. At least 17 travestis (as many transgender people are called) have been killed in public places in Honduras since 2004. None of these killings have led to a prosecution or conviction.

"The police have an obligation to protect people and to investigate violence, no matter who the victims are," said Juliana Cano Nieto, researcher in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. "The Honduran State is failing miserably on this basic issue of human rights."

Violence against transgender people is a constant in Honduras, and the attacks rarely lead to an investigation or prosecution. On January 9, 2009, unknown assailants shot and killed Cynthia Nicole, a leading transgender rights activist. No one has been apprehended or charged with her murder. Most recently, on May 7, two unknown men beat Bárbara Paola, an outreach worker for a Tegucigalpa-based LGBT organization, Arcoiris. Local LGBT rights groups told Human Rights Watch that the case is not under investigation, and that no one has been prosecuted or imprisoned.

Based on interviews with victims of and witnesses to violence, the report also cites cases of violence on the part of police in Honduran cities in recent years. Several transgender people told Human Rights Watch that police officers rape them and extort money from them regularly. A 19-year-old transgender person told Human Rights Watch that police punched her in the face, beat her with a baton, and broke a broomstick against her back before throwing her into jail.

The report documents other cases in which police have stood by and watched when transgender people are attacked, and shows how police fail to pursue investigations in other instances.

Often police justify their actions with reference to vague language in the Law on Police and Social Affairs - such as a need to protect "public morality" and guard against "public scandal." For example, an outreach worker told Human Rights Watch that police officers accused her of stealing, hit her head against a glass door of a building, and accused her of "public scandal."

Some actions to protect public morality are permitted under international human rights law, mainly if they are clearly set out in domestic law, are shown to be necessary, and are applied proportionately. This is clearly not the case in the provisions of the Law on Police and Social Affairs in Honduras, however. Vague provisions in the law enable police violence and abuses against other marginalized communities as well as transgender people.

Comparable laws are found in Guatemala, some states in Mexico, and some provinces in Argentina. Yet in other Latin American countries, like Colombia, judges have quashed similar laws on the grounds that such concepts are too broad and invite discriminatory treatment.

Human Rights Watch acknowledged that Honduras has taken positive steps by making a public commitment to end violence on the grounds of people's sexual orientation or gender identity, in particular by supporting the Organization of American States (OAS) "Resolution on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity" in June 2008.

However, Human Rights Watch called on Honduras to translate these international statements into local action. Honduras should repeal the sweeping provisions in the Law on Police and Social Affairs and pass specific anti-discrimination legislation that bars discrimination on all grounds, including sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.

The report release coincides with the annual meeting of heads of state of the Organization of American States (OAS), of which Honduras is the host. The theme for this year's meeting is "Toward a Culture of Non-Violence."

"As host to the 39th General Assembly, Honduras should send the message that non-violence is a human right for all," said Cano Nieto. "The Honduran government should start by repealing domestic legislation that enables violence."

The Federation of Gay Games has released a video on its web site (http://www.gaygames.com) featuring Matthew Mitcham in a 60 second message, encouraging everyone to participate in the Gay Games.

The video features gold-medal winner Mitcham diving followed by a personal, poolside message: “You don’t have to be an Olympian to participate in the Gay Games. The motto of the Federation of Gay Games is participation, inclusion, and personal best. Everyone can play in sport and culture. Why not be part of it?” A second video has been launched on the 2010 Cologne Gay Games web site (http://www.games-cologne.com) with Matthew Mitcham encouraging participation in the 2010 Gay Games.

Matthew Mitcham won the gold medal in men’s platform diving at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, scoring the highest marks ever in platform diving. Matthew Mitcham is 21 years old, resides in Sydney, Australia, and continues competing in diving events while preparing for the 2012 Olympics. Mitcham was one of two “Out” (openly gay) male athletes at the Beijing Olympics.

Federation of Gay Games Marketing Officer, Doug Litwin, has a very positive response to these videos. “Matthew clearly recognizes the life-changing impact that comes from participating in a large international event. Just as he made history and opened millions of eyes on the diving platform in Beijing, he realizes that the many thousands who have participated in the Gay Games have also had their eyes opened as part of their own life-changing experience. As we've been saying for years... ‘Gay Games Change The World.’”

Federation of Gay Games VP of External Affairs, Kate Rowe (Sydney), produced the video with Matthew Mitcham and can be contacted for Australian support. Sponsorship inquiries for Matthew Mitcham can also be directed through Ms. Rowe (krowe@gaygames.org). Kate commented about Mitcham. “Despite his heavy training commitments for the 2012 Olympics, Matthew wanted to give something to the global Gay and Lesbian sporting community by offering to endorse the Federation of Gay Games and the 2010 Cologne Gay Games with his appearance in this video.” Rowe added “We really appreciate Matthew’s generosity in participating freely, and found it a joy to work with him. Matthew’s enthusiasm for the Gay Games is clearly evident. In fact, he hopes to participate himself sometime in the future.”

The Federation of Gay Games would like to acknowledge Mat Webster and Dion Wilton from Metro Screen, Sydney, Australia, who also gave freely of their time to film and edit the video.

*******

The eighth edition of the quadrennial Gay Games will be held in Cologne, Germany from 31 July-7 August 2010. Chicago’s seventh Gay Games in July 2006 drew 11,700 participants.

For information about how to sponsor or participate in Gay Games VIII in Cologne, Germany, visitwww.games-cologne.com or phone +49 221 925 2607.

For information about or to sponsor the Federation of Gay Games, go towww.gaygames.org.

Kate Rowe, (FGG VP of External Affairs) can be contacted at krowe@gaygames.org.

About The Federation of Gay Games:

The Federation of Gay Games is the international governing body that perpetuates the quadrennial Gay Games and promotes the event's founding principles of “Participation, Inclusion and Personal Best”™. The Gay Games was conceived by Dr. Tom Waddell, an Olympic decathlete, and was first held in San Francisco in 1982 with 1,350 participants. Subsequent Gay Games were held in San Francisco (1986 - 3,500 participants), Vancouver (1990 - 7,300 participants), New York (1994 - 12,500 participants), Amsterdam (1998 - 13,000 participants), Sydney (2002 - 11,000 participants), and Chicago (2006 - 11,700 participants). Gay Games VIII will be held in Cologne, Germany on 31 July-7 August 2010.

“Gay Games”, “Federation of Gay Games”, the interlocking circles device, and the phrase “Participation, Inclusion and Personal Best” are trademarks of the Federation of Gay Games, Inc. Trademarks are registered in the USA, Canada, Benelux, the UK, Germany, and Australia.